Naccarato on Wednesday submitted her resignation, effective Dec. 31, leaving an opening for Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr. and Lt. Gov.-elect Gary Herbert to fill with the new administration. Huntsman's chief of staff, Jason Chaffetz, says there has been no decision on who will be the next elections director.

Naccarato said in her letter that she was resigning "because of the change in administration," but she noted in an interview that she had been offered another job elsewhere.

"I have learned so much here and I will always look back on my many experiences and opportunities with great fondness," she wrote in a letter to Lt. Gov. Gayle McKeachnie, the state's chief elections officer.

Naccarato has served as elections director since May 1999 and is credited with improving the ability of candidates and lobbyists to file financial disclosures. Those disclosures can now be submitted over the Internet and are publicly available on the state's Web site.

After Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002 - arguably the largest overhaul of elections processes in decades - Naccarato began managing the state's switch over to new election technology and other reforms.

Gov. Olene Walker praised Naccarato's service to the state, calling her the "greatest elections director we've ever had."

"I respect her," Walker said. "She's been hard working. She is professional, knowledgeable, smart. She will be greatly missed."

Naccarato serves as vice president of the executive board of the National Association of State Election Directors and has volunteered as an election monitor in Belarus, Russia, and Kosovo.

All employees of the state election office are at-will workers and could lose their positions in the administration change. Naccarato says some on her staff may remain in the office, while others will move to other positions.

tburr@sltrib.com